Our view: What has happened to U.S., Israeli relations?

Updated 8:15 am, Tuesday, March 3, 2015

What are Americans to think about the antics going on in Congress and the White House when it comes to Israel and its Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu?

Is the Obama administration correct that House Speaker John Boehner broke protocol by inviting Netanyahu to speak to a joint session of Congress without first consulting the White House? Will the speech be destructive to U.S.-Israeli relations, as President Obama’s national security adviser Susan Rice says?

Or is the speech necessary so that Congress can better understand Israel’s concerns about Obama’s efforts to negotiate a deal with Iran seeking a verifiable set of commitments that the country’s nuclear program is peaceful? Does Netanyahu have good reason to fear such an agreement, and the right to “speak about an Iranian regime that is threatening to destroy Israel, that’s devouring country after country in the Middle East, that’s exporting terror throughout the world and that is developing, as we speak, the capacity to make nuclear weapons — lots of them?”

Many, many questions surround this latest chapter in the declining relationship between the United States and Israel. An Associated Press story in Monday’s Daily News clearly outlined the fact that President Obama and Prime Minister Netanyahu do not agree on much when it comes to Middle East peace, Israeli settlements in the West Bank and a Palestinian state. This latest riff — Boehner’s bringing Netanyahu to speak to Congress — shows that the divide is growing, not shrinking. Obama has indicated he has no plans to meet with Israel’s prime minister while he is in the U.S., saying he doesn’t want to be seen as attempting to influence Israel’s upcoming elections, but the reality might be he is hoping the snub will help defeat Netanyahu when election day rolls around.

Who knows?

What is clear is that the relationship between two longtime strong allies is currently compromised, and in the future it could grow worse, not better.